Changes

Not sure how I feel about the new banner. I think I like it better than what was up there (you can actually read it) but it's still cutting into the background. So not sure 100% yet. Any opinions?

So I've taken the dive back into glass working, I've gotten some really awesome colors out of Pandora glass... I'm still not sure why so many people say that they hate that glass.... hmmmm....

Been stalking this blog and this blog recently. Really enjoying the wonderful creations that people are coming up with!!! They make me want to make more myself. Too bad there aren't more hours in the day!!!

A Story

...Once upon a time there was a girl. This girl really liked glass. She loved seeing what it could do, how others used it. So she started learning to work with glass, to manipulate it in flame and turn it into works of art. Months turned to years and before she knew it she was arriving at the two year anniversary of her start date at the torch.....

Yep. February 18 will be two years! I can hardly believe it! It seems like just yesterday that Melissa was sitting me down at her torch to melt glass. My first beads weren't worth writing home about, but they were MINE!

Remember these?
Yep, those were in fact my first beads. Since then I have learned that glass can do amazing things. Two years later the explosion that comes from thrusting a rod of glass into the flame too quickly still scares the heck out of me!
Then came the first beads at my own torch at home in my very own studio. (I really should post new pics sometime. It has changed SO
MUCH!)





And from there came the point where I stopped being afraid to play with colors. Using colors that people called "fugly" I created some unique focal beads, learning that all colors can be gorgeous when used in different ways.





This year I'm looking forward to more Silvered Glass, I've fallen in love with shards. Here's to a 2010 full of discoveries, play time and gorgeous works of glass!

New!!

I've started using my new camera and I'm slowly taking new photos of inventory to add to both the main site and artfire. These are just three of the new bottlecap pendants that I've added to the main site. I have a ton more to add, but I'm doing it in small groups as to not overwhelm myself.
I'm in love with my new Canon Rebel, but I know that I have a ton to learn. Right now I'm working without a macro lens, I'm hoping to remedy that very soon though. It's nice to have something other than a simple point and click in my hands, I used to use a 35mm Canon in my photography classes in school. It was my father's and was completely amazing. It opened up my eyes to the amazing world of SLR cameras....

Look for updates on Etsy, Artfire and the Main Site.

Moving

As you all know I'm moving.
So! To celebrate this I'm holding a sale at my website.
10-20% off EVERYTHING!

Go! Look! Tell your friends! :)

Not dead!

I'm sorry that I've neglected the blog for so long! Until today it had been two months since I'd made any beads at the torch. The cute boy to the left is the reason... sort of.
In the past two months I have had him visit from New Mexico, go to the Renaissance Festive out here in Colorado and then about a month later I traveled down to stay with him for two weeks! Needless to say, life has been pretty busy.
I'm back in Colorado though, and today I lit up my torch and made beads! There are about 14 in the kiln right now. I tried some new color sets as well as a raku focal that I'm really hoping comes out right.
There isn't too much on the jewelry front, I have a new design or two that I desperately need to put up on etsy or my site.

Another Step

As some of you know, and some of you don't; I'm slowly setting up a lampworking studio.
Until today I had almost everything I needed.
Today, we got our natural gas hook up. Now, I know that I could use propane, but NG is so much easier and burns cleaner.
These are the first and only beads that I've ever made. I have sooo much glass to work with, and bought my Minor torch just before Christmas. Earlier in January I got my oxygen concentrator.

Our next and last step: Ventilation.
I want my ventilation to be proper, to make sure that any fumes that are created by melting glass are quickly and easily swept away. We have the hood that we want to use, so all that's left is the fan and hooking it up with ducting and all that. (Can you tell that I'm not the one that will be installing that either?)

Busy Days

While I wait for my ventilation to be installed I've busied myself with making a few new pieces for the Website. Three so far. Two multi-strand necklaces and a simple bracelet. I haven't had the chance to photograph them yet, but they are stunning!

The piece pictured to the left is one that I reciently added to the website. It's one of my favorites. Artisan Lampwork beads with onyx, Bali silver and Snakeskin Jasper. The clasp is one of my favorites, each piece has a small daisy like flower on it. It's still for sale.

With the beginning of the new year comes the resolutions... Unless you're me. I try not to do resolutions, I don't want to have to guilt trip myself to do something.
This year I've decided that I'm going to destash like crazy. I have a ton of beads and findings that still need new homes. You know what that means! Etsy! I've started adding even more stuff to my destash shop.
I encourage you all to go take a gander. :)

Studio- progress!

In my last post I told the story of a room that was destined to become something other than a hot tub room. With this post, I'm going to provide photos!

Here is a photo of the room before. Don't mind the ceramics and boxes. There is a window that leads into another room in the basement, the door (where the photo is taken from) leads into my sewing/craft studio.
Here is the room, most of the hot tub has been removed at this point. It was built badly, we found out. Definitely not something that we wanted to use again!
No more hot tub! (From left to right) My father, a family friend and my boyfriend. There was a lot of unseen water damage, until we tore the hot tub down. I don't know how many times I heard, "Wow, it's a good thing that we're taking this out!"
We covered the tile walls with waynescoating and started to prime. Talk about a lot of painting!
Walls are painted! I also painted the window, door trims and baseboard that teal color, which I love.

Here are the final walls. The other two aren't painted anything fancy. To the left of the book shelf is where my lampworking bench will be.
The photo of the desk is where I will be doing jewelry design and the like.

Snowflakes....

I swear that I have not forgotten about you all!
I haven't created anything new these past few weeks. I did however, do a show in Byers, Colorado that went very well.
Yesterday, I also received my new torch. A gorgeous Nortel Minor. It's not put together in this photo- but there it is!Monday starts demolition on my soon to be "studio". I'm very excited about it but rather busy and absent minded. Forgive me? :)

Black Friday SALE!

Enjoy FREE SHIPPING for the entire day of November 23rd.
Stop by and take a gander, there aren't many days left until Christmas!!!

Back in the... saddle?

What I'm meaning to say is that I'm back in the swing of things. I officially have all of my current pieces photographed and re-sized (insert a giant YAY here!) and I'm working on the rest of the odds and ends today. The goal is to have the site fully updated for the 23rd. I can't wait!!!
On the creative front, I made a few pairs of earrings and a new cell phone charm the other day. Can I just tell you all, it felt so darn good! I missed all of that in my rut. I think that my muse took a trip to Venus or something. She just would not cooperate with me! Talk about stressful times!
I'm still destashing like crazy though. I have so many unloved beads that really need to find new homes! With the Holidays coming up I'm hoping that destashing and listing items in my site and etsy are going to be a really big help.

Speaking of Etsy, this Friday- the 23rd EtsyBEAD is having a Thanksgiving Sale! Over 50 shops are participating. Look here for a list of participants!

Been Busy

I admit, I've been slacking. Fall is just not a very good time for me I guess. I apologize for "abandoning" you all, my readers.
I bring wonderful news though! For many months I have been dreaming of kilns and torches and many many lampwork beads. This weekend the first stage will be done. I am getting a kiln. I know that it should go studio, torch, kiln. I have to tell you all though, this is a deal and I just can not pass it up. Hopefully with a kiln of my own I will quickly get my torch within the month. Then I turn to studio space. The plan is the garage. That means we have to clean it out and re-do everything. I'm a bit worried about that- as I want to start right away. I suppose I should practice patience more often. It's terribly hard though!
I have been uploading more supplies on etsy, to try and finance my new addiction. I've also added two new pieces to my main etsy shop. After that, I start on my website again. I just uploaded these earrings into the mix:
I hope you are all having amazing days. Enjoy the fall!

After the whirlwind of yesterday's "Talk like a pirate" day, I find myself sitting here staring out the window longingly. It's another gorgeous day here in Colorado. The trees are beginning to change and I'm drooling over all of the fall colors! I've made a few orange/fall colored pieces thanks to the changing leaves. One using a leaf from Melissa at Inner Realm Creations. I love Melissa's work and it was so much fun working with one of her beads. The other is one that I finally used my Autumn Jasper on. I've had the beads forever and they just haven't called to anything else on my bench. A couple of days ago I found some sunstone rounds that just glittered with the jasper. That made me a happy woman.

I also have a piece of beadwork that is waiting to be finished. I started it a while ago, sadly I had to take a hiatus from it due to the amount of other projects that I had going. At the Denver Renaissance Bead Show I found an amazing booth that had more green seed beads than I had ever seen before- Green was the color I needed. Needless to say, I now have the green I need to finish my newest piece.

This piece to the right is one of my first in a long time. It is now sitting in a shadowbox that my father made. I really enjoy this type of beadwork, it takes a bit of time but I think it's worth it!

In The Process

I reciently started separating my jewelry from the beads and findings that I'm selling. The task is going to be a tedious one, but I'm up for the challenge. I've started shifting everything from my main account to my supply account. I'm still having my two dollar or less sale as well. In the next week I'll be adding more supplies to the shop, hopefully others can find inspiration in things that I had hoped to one day use!

I'd also like to announce that as well as being part of EtsyBEAD I'm now a part of EarthPath Artisans (or EAST). Summersea says it nicely, so I'll quote her: "We are a team of people who walk similar alternative spiritual paths, focusing our beliefs in the world of Nature. Our team membership encompasses different Goddess-based traditions, as well as Taoism, Buddhism and similar paths. Our shops are as diverse as our membership. We are not limited to selling only items representing our spiritual path, but also create to make your everyday world a better and more interesting place."

I look forward to creating unique items with the inspiration that I receive from both etsy street teams.

Colorado Mornings

It's the start of a beautiful day here in Colorado. I woke a bit later than normal, my mind was fuzzy from less than restful sleep.

The Pirate earrings arrived in Texas and I'm told that she hasn't hardly taken them off! talk about a compliment to my work. I plan on having a few new sets up soon, fall colors is a given set. The trees are already changing here!

Lately I've been listening to a radio station that I made on Pandora, it's a very neat site, you add in artists and it matches their genre, mood and overall feel to create a radio station. Right now I'm on a Loreena McKennitt and Sarah Brightman kick. The music really helps me get motivated to create. Check out the site if you get the chance, it's really amazing.

Speaking of motivation and creativity, I'm still in the process of photographing new pieces for the site. I'm slowly working my way through, I think I have something like 260 left. That's a large number, yes. But nothing compared to the 600+ that I started with! To the right is a close up of one of my bloodstone bracelets. I am in love with bloodstone, it's so unique. The random "splatters" of red along the dark green stone just make my day when I'm in the right mood.

The days never end

Since returning from California my life has gone back to busy. I have orders from etsy to ship, as well as this gorgeous pair of earrings.

These are my "Pirate Queen" earrings. They're made with Amethyst, Swarovski, Bali Silver and purple glass. They'll be winging their way to Texas this afternoon.

I love this style, for ladies with three ear piercings or more. I know that I love to have lots of earrings, but seven pair is a bit much for me- so what do I do? Wear a pair of these to fill my empty ears!

This pair features a small sterling pirate ship, in the future I hope to have skull and crossbones as well as leaves and possibly other things. I'm thinking scissors and sewing machines, for that seamstress in your life!
To the left is a close up of the lower right dangle with the charm. I had so much fun creating these, it allowed my more risky side to come out. Sadly they aren't miss-matched. I left that for the next pair!

In the future I might even consider adding a piercing for more than one extra hole, can you just see it? A pair of earrings that one "laces" all the way up the ear? I may just have to run down to my studio and create that. Hmmm... Ah, the striking of the Muse.

Lost my mind

If any of you have read my blog before, you know I have a shop on Etsy that I sell my surplus supplies on. I will admit, I lack patience. That and I'm tired of seeing all of these lonely beads! So I've started re-pricing them all for two dollars or under. Yes, you read right. I'm letting things go at a STEAL because I want to see someone else use them since I can't.
I have 78 different items or sets of items at $2, on Etsy!

On The Topic Of Accessories - For Your Phone

One of the things that I will always take with me to shows is my large assortment of cell phone charms. These little dangles are absolutely wonderful for showing a bit of personality on your phone. Many phones have places to attach them, in fact I think all of the newer lines do now! I have a Motorola RAZR and my phone charm changes often. Currently I have a few Swarovski crystals hanging off of it. Just a bit of sparkle! These little buggers are easily personalized and altered to fit the owner, often I'll add charms, dangles or change the colors on one for the buyer. I think that they are just tons of fun!

On the road of updating

I've taken a break from updating my site to bring you a few photos. These are pieces that I uploaded to the site tonight, I have so many more to do but I refuse to think about it. Bits at a time, I say.

The first piece is one of my favorites. I used heart shaped rose quartz beads as well as freshwater pearls and a stunning blister pearl pendant. You can't see it, but in between some of the pearls are tiny bright Bali daisy spacers.

It can be found here on my site

Let's see, what else? Here's a pair of earrings that I made a while ago, using candy jade, unikite and Bali silver. I'm very fond of these as well.

They can be found here

I got to play with more lampwork beads today. They are quickly becoming my favorite things to buy! I love all of the colors and designs though! I purchased a number of beads from Chloescreations on etsy and I have nothing but praise for the beauty and design of her work! If you're looking for lampwork, I definitely suggest looking at her etsy shop.

Speaking of Etsy. The EtsyBEAD theme of the week is: Keeping it Cool. I'm excited to see what everyone is working up! Make sure to go search etsy for 'ebtw' and see what they've cooked up!